STUDENT COLLABORATION
What distinguishes a wiki from say a normal google site is the collaborative feature. Technology enables communication and collaboration. Below are a few examples of the many many ways you can use a wiki in your classroom to enable collaboration amongst students.
A. Posting Critical Thinking Questions
In this example we look at the implementation of critical thinking exercise. As part of the class groups are required to answer a discussion question for every unit and present their findings to the class. The wiki is used as a place to post their work and thoughts. These examples require the creation of a google doc where students analyze their sources.
B. Showcasing Student Work
After Freshmen year our current students are well versed in the creative tools of garage band and imovie. These skills enable them to create multimedia projects. With any project its important the learning is focused on the material not the medium. After making a few or going through the tech apps class students should be proficient in use of the medium. The following is an example of asking students to create short videos. These are videos by PND students in Mrs. MacMillan's Spanish class from the 2009-2010 school year. I took the embed codes from youtube and created a page off of another wiki to showcase how easy it is to provide a common sharing space. The benefit of collecting student work in this way is the time savings that takes place in the sharing aspect. No need to navigate dozens of websites or load student videos from flash drives.
C. Student Collaborative Authorship
A number of educators have implemented wikis into their class by using this web based tool to guide the building of a student created text book. In some examples students were individually assigned sections of the text to write whereas in other examples students were divided into groups and given authorship rights over certain chapters. The wiki allowed ease of integration for digital sources, learning how to properly reference material etc.
D. 1:1 use - Class Scribe Concept
Unique to a 1:1 environment is the ability to set up a class scribe page off of your course wiki site. Students will have the ability to take notes on their macbook and also the ability to record lectures through garage band. A growing feature on many wikis from 1:1 schools is the creation of the scribe page. The teacher simply assigns a student or students to have scribe duties for the day. They type of the class lecture notes and throw the audio file onto the website. Having this take place on a daily basis by the students not the teacher allows points to be given for participation, allows absent students to have a place to find information they missed, and also makes following a vast number of ISP and 504 plans easy. Below is an example I threw together over the weekend of what a basic set up could look like. The page is located on a sample wiki.
E. Planning a Complex Piece
Wikis can also be used independently for students to plan work. To give you an idea of how we've been using wikis around PND below is the planning wiki for the design of "Gordon" the movie. This was the faculty entry for the 2009 film festival. Using the wiki allowed a handful of people to collaborate in the writing of the script, scene design, music selection etc. Other examples include the PNDHS Wiki, and the theology department wiki, as well as the planning wiki for our upcoming lovely NCA visit and reaccrediting process.
What distinguishes a wiki from say a normal google site is the collaborative feature. Technology enables communication and collaboration. Below are a few examples of the many many ways you can use a wiki in your classroom to enable collaboration amongst students.
A. Posting Critical Thinking Questions
In this example we look at the implementation of critical thinking exercise. As part of the class groups are required to answer a discussion question for every unit and present their findings to the class. The wiki is used as a place to post their work and thoughts. These examples require the creation of a google doc where students analyze their sources.
Page with various group projects
B. Showcasing Student Work
After Freshmen year our current students are well versed in the creative tools of garage band and imovie. These skills enable them to create multimedia projects. With any project its important the learning is focused on the material not the medium. After making a few or going through the tech apps class students should be proficient in use of the medium. The following is an example of asking students to create short videos. These are videos by PND students in Mrs. MacMillan's Spanish class from the 2009-2010 school year. I took the embed codes from youtube and created a page off of another wiki to showcase how easy it is to provide a common sharing space. The benefit of collecting student work in this way is the time savings that takes place in the sharing aspect. No need to navigate dozens of websites or load student videos from flash drives.
Student Video Showcase
C. Student Collaborative Authorship
A number of educators have implemented wikis into their class by using this web based tool to guide the building of a student created text book. In some examples students were individually assigned sections of the text to write whereas in other examples students were divided into groups and given authorship rights over certain chapters. The wiki allowed ease of integration for digital sources, learning how to properly reference material etc.
Link to Article on Student Authored Texts through Wiki use
An example of High School Student Created Wiki
D. 1:1 use - Class Scribe Concept
Unique to a 1:1 environment is the ability to set up a class scribe page off of your course wiki site. Students will have the ability to take notes on their macbook and also the ability to record lectures through garage band. A growing feature on many wikis from 1:1 schools is the creation of the scribe page. The teacher simply assigns a student or students to have scribe duties for the day. They type of the class lecture notes and throw the audio file onto the website. Having this take place on a daily basis by the students not the teacher allows points to be given for participation, allows absent students to have a place to find information they missed, and also makes following a vast number of ISP and 504 plans easy. Below is an example I threw together over the weekend of what a basic set up could look like. The page is located on a sample wiki.
Link to Class Scribe Page
E. Planning a Complex Piece
Wikis can also be used independently for students to plan work. To give you an idea of how we've been using wikis around PND below is the planning wiki for the design of "Gordon" the movie. This was the faculty entry for the 2009 film festival. Using the wiki allowed a handful of people to collaborate in the writing of the script, scene design, music selection etc. Other examples include the PNDHS Wiki, and the theology department wiki, as well as the planning wiki for our upcoming lovely NCA visit and reaccrediting process.
Link to Gordon Movie Planning Wiki
Link to School Wiki
Link the Theology Wiki
Link to a Conference Planning Wiki